The End of Summer

The kids have returned to school and I have lost my free if somewhat lazy labor.  It was at just the wrong time, too.  For the past three weeks I have been dealing with a cold, sinus infection, and a nasty cough from chest congestion.  Add that to my regular issues with asthma and getting outside to do some physical labor has not been high on my list of priorities.  As a result, the garden is just about done.  I do still have some tomatoes ripening and the beans can probably be salvaged.  Luckily, I had already planted my second round of corn and pumpkins, so if I can get myself out there to care for them I will have something to show for my work.  I think it's time to pull everything else up and plant some cover crops now.  I may sneak in some late summer plantings of lettuce and broccoli to see how they do. 

Pickles out the wazoo

I have had a great crop of pickling cucumbers this year.  So many, in fact, that I have managed to put up almost 20 jars of 3 kinds of pickles.  And they'll be used.  Dill spears for the kids to chomp, hamburger dill chips for, of course, hamburgers, and bread & butter pickles for everything else are busting off my shelves.  But, I have realized that while pickles are all well and good, I need more useful veggies from my garden for preserving.  My corn hasn't done so well.  Hopefully my successive crop will give me some for summer eating as well as freezing for the winter.  And the peppers are maturing, so I will have something to preserve from that harvest.  But, cantaloupes, watermelons, and squash are not known for their great preservation qualities.  My tomatoes are struggling.  My beans are barely producing.  My pumpkins have failed. 

However, even if those three crops were doing better, it just feels that the garden is not providing all I need.  It's supposed to provide a way to keep my grocery bill down, but that hasn't happened yet.  I am still spending as much as I ever was and my freezer and pantry shelves are still bare for the coming winter.  I think this means I am going to have to reevaluate what is grown in the garden.  Maybe more beans, especially the kind I can dry. I may have to pay a little more attention to my tomatoes.  This is going to take better planning for next year.  None of my normal slapdash, last minute tomfoolery.

It's so damned hot!

August in Ky is always hot.  It's always humid and it always burns.  But this August has started out with excessive heat advisories.  The heat makes wanting to work in the garden very discouraging.  While I'm inside, before I've opened a door, I think about getting out there and checking the harvest, picking pests, and pulling weeds.  As soon as the door opens, though, any attempts at pushing myself through the miasma of humid, hot air and soul sapping sun are thwarted.  I know I have to get out there or all of my hard work will be for naught.  I just can't convince my body that it is for the best.